“I think we’re all—” I started to reply to the mage, only to have a massive roar echo out from somewhere distant in the jungle, filling all of us with a deep existential dread as the very creature we were talking about made itself known.
“Another one bites the dust…” Sierra said nervously, her eyes focused towards the shadow-filled canopy. “What’s that? The sixth today?”
“At least,” I replied with a sigh, the levity of our earlier conversation having vanished. The Beast’s roar had become an almost staple noise in the Twilight Grove over the last few days, ringing out whenever the creature managed to claim a new victim, or more likely, a group of victims.
A noise that had been growing only more frequent with each day that passed.
“That sounded far enough away,” I said, motioning for everyone to resume the trail that we had been following through the jungle. “But we should probably get moving just in case. If we can’t find that stone soon, we’ll have to turn back for the night.”
“Based on what that other group told us, we should be getting close,” Sierra assured me as she, Amaranth and I took point, resuming our trek. “Assuming we haven’t accidentally intersected another group’s path, but I doubt that’s the case, it’s impossible to get through this place without leaving a trail exactly where you’ve gone, and I haven’t noticed any other trails.”
“Me either,” I replied, glancing out at the ragged path of broken plants and torn vines that signaled that a group of Adventurers had recently passed through here. The jungle was simply too thick for anyone except for the most patient to pass through without leaving some sort of evidence of where they had gone.
Pushing onwards, I kept my eyes scanning the foliage carefully as we moved, watching for any sign of creatures lurking in wait, while silently wondering if the group had actually found a second Runestone - which is what we had begun calling the large glowing rock that we had discovered during our first day in the Grove.
Which already seems like a lifetime ago, I thought, feeling the familiar weight of mental fatigue and exhaustion return as the excitement of battle faded. Ever since I had issued the Call to Arms and led Aldford’s Adventurers down into the Twilight Grove, the days had blurred themselves into a veritable storm of blood and death as we all worked to tame the underground jungle.
The first day with all of Aldford’s Adventurers entering the Grove had been sheer chaos. Despite all our warnings not to take the creatures lightly, the majority of the groups going into the cavern had done just that, treating the Grove as if it were just another area filled with monsters.
And consequently, they paid the price for it.
Nearly three-quarters of all the Adventurers that came down with us on that first day were torn to shreds by the jungle creatures, with a substantial number of them practically begging us or other well-organized guilds to physically escort them to their numerous Soul Fragments by the time the evening fell. Many of them then choose not to return to the Grove, in favor of spending more time leveling in the safer areas above ground before making a second attempt at the jungle.
But those who learned from their early mistakes, or had been smart enough to heed our warning in the first place, found themselves in a place where they could hone their skills against a virtually endless horde of creatures.
Or as gamers would more aptly describe it, grind.
Given the rather substantial level difference between the average Aldford Adventurer and the majority of the creatures in the Grove, gaining levels was by far the most important thing that anyone could do in the jungle, and Virtus was no exception. We had recalled every single member of the guild and outfitted them with the best armor and weapons that we had available, then set out en mass into the cavern, starting the process in bridging the level gap between us and the creatures that inhabited the Twilight Grove.
There were of course missteps and deaths at first as we were forced to develop tactics that worked against the creatures and which people fought best together. But as the days progressed, we slowly made headway against the seemingly endless array of monsters that crawled amongst the strange, alien plants that made up the jungle; we were now able to carve our way through the weaker hordes that would have once stopped us cold.
All part of the cycle, I thought dryly as I pushed a large fern-like plant out of my face and continued to follow the trail. Find a new area full of tough monsters, kill them until you out level them, then go searching for newer and tougher monsters. Though in our case, finding tougher creatures means working our way closer to the Ley Line.
After a few days of leveling in the Twilight Grove, we had all noticed that the creatures in the place progressively increased in level the further that one delved into it. Lower levels, for the area at least, seemed to be found around the edges of the massive jungle, their levels ranging from level fifteen to seventeen, and gradually increasing to eighteen and nineteen as one pushed into the heart of the Grove. Anything past that point, however, was a still mystery, with no Adventurer or group having managed to make it any deeper without being fatally swarmed by the local fauna, or attracting the attention of The Beast.
It’s only a matter of time, I thought optimistically as I considered just how far we’d come in the last few days. Just a few more days leveling, then we should have enough people leveled high enough to go hunting for that damn creature. Once it’s out of the way, we can see about pushing our way towards the Ley Line.
“Uh,” I stalled, seeing the outlines of a large shadow loom distantly along the trail. “Let me see.”
Bracing myself for the shock, I quickly toggled my True Sight while staring in the direction of the shadow, the darkness at the edges of our light vanishing into a blinding spray of azure energy before vanishing, leaving me clutching at my eyes as faint afterimages swam across my vision.
“Yep!” I announced, recalling the pillar of light that was exactly where the shadow had stood. “That’s definitely another Runestone.”
“Great!” Sierra commented excitedly from beside me. “…so, what does that mean?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” I replied as the stone came into view in the orbs of light that were illuminating our path. Taking a moment to inspect the area, I noticed that like the first Runestone we’d found several days earlier, this one was also deeply imbedded in the ground with much of the vegetation around it having been trampled, likely from the other party that had found it first. “We haven’t even made sense of the first one we found, let alone this one.”
“Donovan and the others haven’t had any insight?” Sierra asked as the rest of the group joined us and we all walked around to the smooth side of the Runestone.
“Nothing useful,” Halcyon supplied for me, having been working with the four mages with whatever little spare time he had. “After watching the runes play through a few cycles on the stone, Lyr and I decided to take some sketches to show them, and so far, we all agree that it’s some sort of spell notation…but we haven’t been able to figure out anything more than that.”
“Probably because we don’t have enough context of the overall spell,” I said, motioning towards the stone. “We thought that the Runestone might have been part of something bigger before, and this is proof of it.”
“Could be,” Caius agreed. “But that only leaves to question how many Runestones there are…or if they’re all even intact.”
“We can ask around and see if anyone else has found any, now that we know for sure there is more than one,” Sierra said thoughtfully. “Or make a formal announcement to all the Adventurers that we’re looking for them. Pretty much everyone’s found the first stone already, so it’s not a secret by any stretch.”
“My bet is if there are any others that they’re even further into the jungle,” Constantine said. “This one here is
about as deep into the Grove as any of us have travelled so far. Any further than this and we’re likely to start running into those level nineteen Praying Mantis looking things that Lazarus said wiped out his group last night.”
“I think you’re right,” I told the rogue, while simultaneously shuddering at the memory of the half-giant’s description of the creatures.
“So, what’s the plan now, Lyr?” Drace asked after we all shared a sympathetic wince. “We found the stone, but I’m not keen on hanging around here any longer than we have to.”
“We wait until it lights up,” I said, sheathing Splinter and then reaching into my inventory to pull out a stick of charcoal, parchment, and a flat sheet of metal, seeing Halcyon do the same out of the corner of my eye. “And then we sketch it too, it’s not like we can take it with us.”
Drace paused to look up at the stone, before nodding in agreement. “No, definitely not through a jungle like this.”
“Do you really think you guys will be able to figure something out with this?” Constantine asked as I found myself a place to sit in front of the Runestone, both Amaranth and Halcyon moving to take a seat on each side of me. “I mean the quest we have for the Ley Line didn’t even react to us finding the stones.”
“I really don’t know, Constantine,” I admitted with a shrug as I readied myself. “But these stones have to be important somehow. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have survived the blast that formed this place.”
As if it had been listening to my words, the Runestone chose that moment into flare to life, familiar runes and magical script appearing on its smooth face and beginning to crawl across its surface. Sitting up straight, I flattened the parchment onto the metal sheet before me, while watching the shifting lines flow across the rock, attempting to commit each and every piece of it to memory. I stared at the Runestone without moving, letting the entire sequence play out on its surface until it finally faded away.
It was only then that I looked down at the parchment before me and lifted the charcoal stick in my hand, placing it on the page carefully.
And began to draw.
Chapter 43
“Finally!” Constantine exclaimed as we passed through the long tunnel separating the Twilight Grove and the massive chamber that we had fought the Sentinel in, the sound of friendly voices and even laughter greeting our ears. “Home, albeit temporary home, at last!”
“What a long day,” Drace agreed, the half-giant’s tone carrying a heavy note of exhaustion. “I can’t wait to sleep…hell, I might just log off and crash in my real bed tonight.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I told the man, looking out at the sprawling camp that had practically willed itself into existence the moment that Adventurers realized that after a long day of hunting in the Grove that they still had to make the trek back up through the ruin and then to Aldford.
I had no clue who first decided to throw their bedroll down on the ground in the chamber and simply fall asleep, but most of the Adventurers afterward had considered it to be a fantastic idea and joined in until nearly everyone exploring the Grove was spending their nights in the relatively safe area. After that, it wasn’t long until a handful of them decided to clean up the rather battle-scarred chamber, and even shorter after that before several other enterprising Adventurers realized that there was coin to be made by providing services to those willing to brave the Grove.
And so, Camp Sentinel was born.
In the span of three days, the chamber that we had been caught fighting for our lives in against the Nafarrian golem, had been transformed into a sort of home away from home, filled with clusters of roughly made chairs and tables where weary Adventurers could rest in between their expeditions into the Twilight Grove. Yet the addition of new furniture wasn’t what made the place feel homey; it was everything else that followed it.
With the Adventurers choosing to spend their downtime in a single spot, it was only a matter of time before the chefs among their ranks began to ply their trade and began turning the creatures and plants of the Grove into strange and exotic dishes, removing the one major need any of them had to return to the surface. Shortly after the chefs appeared, so did the merchants, each of them eager to lighten overburdened Adventurers of their spoils gained from hunting in exchange for piles of coin. Then eventually, following the merchants, came Shelia and Jenkins, the pair seizing on the opportunity to both cater to those who needed healing and those who found their equipment in dire need of repair, if not replacement.
“Every time I look at this place it seems that there is something new sprouting up,” I commented to Freya, motioning towards a group of Adventurers that were setting up a large burlap tent in one corner of the chamber in an attempt to carve out some privacy for themselves.
“Never underestimate the power of an inconvenienced Adventurer,” she replied tiredly, following my hand towards the group’s efforts. “They’ll move heaven and earth until they can be lazy again.”
“That sounds about right,” I said with a chuckle while glancing back at the group and seeing that they had all dispersed, some heading towards the tables were other members of Virtus sat, others heading straight towards their bedrolls before collapsing into them. “Are you going to bed or staying up a bit longer?”
“Bed, definitely,” Freya replied, covering a yawn as she shook her head. “I don’t know how you manage on four hours of sleep a night, but I can’t do it, at least not after a day like today.”
“I know what you mean,” I said, despite feeling the exhaustion that only an entire day of fighting could bring. “But I shouldn’t be too long; I just want to check on the camp, then take the new Runestone sketches to the mages and see if we can make sense of them. I’ll sleep better knowing that everything here is going okay.”
“I’ll save you a bedroll then,” Freya told me with a wave, her eyes already partially glazed over as she turned to walk towards the section of the chamber that Virtus had staked out, leaning heavily on her spear as she moved. “Good night, Lyr. Good night, Amaranth.”
“Good night, Freya,” I called back, my familiar also croaking in acknowledgment as the blonde warrior departed.
“Ah, I’m sorry, Amaranth!” I replied to the cat, suddenly realizing that aside from a single unlucky Gremlin in the morning, I hadn’t seen him eat or drink anything at all today. Given my rather unique condition of no longer needing to eat, I wasn’t in the habit of carrying any food with me, leaving me with nothing to offer the cat. “I didn’t even think! Let’s find you something right now!”
Moving deeper into the camp, the two of us made a beeline towards a collection of tables that served as a makeshift kitchen catering to the hordes of the Adventurers, while also making a brisk business buying meat and herbs recovered from the creatures of the Grove. Angling our approach towards a tall, dark-furred Tul’Shar that was busily butchering various meats, I flagged the man down and pointed towards a table with a pile of uncut meat.
“Hey, is any of this meat for sale?” I asked, seeing his eyes widen in recognition as he turned to look towards me, still holding his bloody knife in his hand.
“Hmm?” He grunted in confusion before following my hand towards the table. “Uh, well, not until it’s cooked. If you want a meal you can—OH!”
Halfway through his sentence, Amaranth decided to make his presence known and placed both of his paws on the heavily laden table as he lifted himself up off the ground, his nose twitching as he began to sniff at the meat.
“It’s not for me,” I told the understandably shocked butcher as the table groaned ominously under Amaranth’s weight. “I’m just looking for something for my familiar.”
“I-I can see that,” he said, managing to recover from the surprise. “W-what does he want?”
“We’ll start with that slab that he just licked,” I told the man, seeing him wince as Amaranth then bit into the meat that he had marked and lifted it off the table without disturbing any of the other cuts piled around it. “How much for that piece and let’s say another cut roughly its size too?”
“Um,” the Tul’Shar stalled as the sounds of Amaranth tearing into his meal reached our ears. “Three silvers should cover it. Maybe just have him come back when he’s ready for seconds?”
“Works for me,” I replied, taking out my pouch to pay the man, who accepted my coin with a numb expression, his attention focused in the direction of Amaranth’s eating.
Receiving a mental grunt in response from my familiar as he continued to messily feast on his meal, I left him behind to eat in peace while crossing the length of the camp towards where Shelia and her apprentices had set up shop. After the disaster that was the first day exploring the Grove, we realized that we needed to have a medical area to help treat the wounded who managed to make it out of the Grove under their own power.
I hadn’t yet been unfortunate enough to come across any, but there were apparently a number of creatures in the jungle that were capable of inflicting lasting injuries on their victims, be it through some sort of wasting disease, burrowing spines, or a particularly long-lasting venom. None of which faded with the regular regeneration that we Adventurers enjoyed.
Instead, anyone so afflicted needed to be treated either magically or cured by alchemical means, which many of Adventurers simply didn’t have access to. It seemed as with many of the games before it, Ascend Online was no exception to the rule that Healers were often few and far between, with many players not gravitating to the support role.
Legacy of the Fallen Page 59